Dad
by Eyes for Eternity
Summary: One mine explosion was all it took to tear them apart. But it was enough to pull them together. Katniss and Gale write letters to their fathers who died in the mine explosion. Peeta has a part too. 4-shot, post-Catching Fire.
1. Katniss

Dad,

I'm sorry. I'm so incredibly sorry. It's been years since you left us. Years since I took over. If you could see me now, Prim, all of us, if only you could see…and I know you do. Wherever you are, you have to see what I've been through.

I won the Games, Dad. I won them. I didn't win them for me, not even Peeta. I won them for Prim, Mom, Gale…I won them for you. You taught me how to hold my own. If it weren't for you, I'd be right there at your side now. If it weren't for you, Mom would've left again, Prim would be starving, Gale would be gone.

Gale. Remember him, Dad? He used to live a block away from us. He was two years older than me. We never talked. His father died the same day you did. When you left, I took over hunting. I met him in the woods. He's amazing with traps and snares. He loves the bows you made.

I know it's you I need to ask. You should know. I'm not your little girl anymore, but I don't think I ever was. Not since I shot that first arrow. Then I was me. Katniss. Nothing else. But I still need you to know. I think I love him. Gale. I…no. I do love him. I know I do. Don't be worried, wherever you are. He's a good guy.

I hope you didn't believe that I loved Peeta. I guess I kind of did, for a while…but it wasn't real. He gave us the bread, Dad, after you left. We were hungry. He saved us. I couldn't, wouldn't let him die. And if lying was the only way to make him live, I would. But it was just that. Lying.

It's my fault now. I can't stand knowing anymore. It's all my fault. The world is in chaos, Prim and Mom might be dead, everyone else might be too. And it's all. My. Fault. If I was strong enough, if I could've just killed him! This would all be over! But I couldn't. Was I too weak, Dad? Did I just care too much?

We're going to District Thirteen now. We're going to win this war. I won't be weak this time. I have to kill, I know that. And this time I will. I can assure you we won't be meeting any time soon.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry about everything, Dad. I'm sorry you had to die in the mines. I'm sorry I fell into those Games, the ones you hate so much. I'm sorry I can't tell you everything. But I'm just sorry that you had to watch me through all this, wherever you are. I'm sorry I put you, Prim, Mom, everyone through what I did. I'm so, so sorry.

And I'm sorry I lost the bows. Those were the last things anyone had left of you, and I threw them away to prove a meaningless point. I loved those bows, so much. I'll never get them back, not now.

I'm sorry I'll forget about you when I win this.

Love,  
Katniss


	2. Gale

Dad:

It's been years since that day, that wretched, terrible day. Since the day where you left it all on me. I was just a kid. I didn't know what to do. But somehow I got on. The baby came just days after you died. Mom named her Posy. She looks just like you did.

I'm out of school now, into the mines. Mom never wanted me to go to the mines, not after what happened. She worked herself to the bone trying to make it so I didn't have to. So I'm there.

Hunting finally got me in trouble. After years and years of illegally hunting, I just now got in trouble for it. Right when we got new Peacekeepers, too. But hunting has to be the best thing to ever happen to me, whether I have to get whipped for it or not. Hunting's how I met her.

Katniss. Remember her, that little girl that lived down the block? You worked with her dad. I love that girl. Love her so much.

She won the Games. It was terrible. But she started the rebellion. The one, single move we needed to take the Capitol down. And we've taken the opportunity.

We're in District Thirteen now. They still exist. And they're the key we need to win this. We will win this.

Make sure Katniss's dad knows I won't hurt her. Never would think to do it. And make sure you understand that I didn't want to leave everyone behind, but I had to. I got the Everdeen's and Mom and the kids out. A few others. But most of the district couldn't have made it. I'm sorry I sacrificed everything I knew, everything you used to know, for this. But I know we can do it, Dad. We will.

I'm sorry you couldn't be here to see the revolution. But you have to see it. God can't be cruel enough to keep you from seeing what we're accomplishing.

And thanks for teaching be how to hunt. It's the only way any of us survived when you left. We needed it.

Sincerely,  
Gale


	3. Peeta

Dear Mr. Everdeen,

You died in the explosion years ago. I'm sorry to say I can't remember the day. But there's some things I need to tell you.

I love Katniss. I love her with every drop of life in my body. I live for her. I'd die for her. But I know she doesn't love me. She knows what I'd do for her. She knows I love her. But she knows she can get on without me. I will die without her. Your daughter, your amazing, intelligent, beautiful daughter is the reason I live. She has been since before she knew my name. I'm sorry to say that I will die for her, here, in the Capitol, without being able to take back everything I've ever said to her. If she didn't know I was in love with her, she would've killed me in those Games. She would never be in this danger. But she does. She knows. And now she's somewhere, fighting a war she can never lead, and I'm taking torture for her. Because while I know she's out there, I'll happily take the lashes.

It's okay though. I know she'll make it through this, even if I can never see her again. Even if I die protecting her. She has Gale. He loves her too, you know. And he can do so much more for her. He'll protect her. And he'll be able to live through it to be there for her when this is over. I never will be.

I'm sorry I complicated her life this way. I can't imagine what you feel having to see your daughter fighting the world's war alone. And if I had never loved her, she could've just come back from the Games, and lived a happy life with your family and Gale. And I'd be able to be up wherever you are, and I wouldn't have to think of what might have been. But I did. I told her I loved her. And it was the biggest mistake of my life.

Take care of her. I don't know how, but make sure she lets go of me. Make sure she goes with Gale. Because my days are numbered, and she can't die for nothing in this war.

Make sure she knows it's not her fault.

Sincerely,  
Peeta Mellark


	4. Need

**AN: This came to me when my friend's cousin's mom died a few days ago. I haven't seen any fics about Katniss and Gale's dads, so I decided to write one. **

* * *

It's the day. Not the reaping. Not the war. Not anyone's birthday.

It's the anniversary. The day the mine exploded. The day District Twelve's population was cut in half.

My father died that day.

I sit on the twin bed in my room. My eyes are puffy and red, my cheeks sting from the salty streams dripping down. Crystal drops distort my vision to that the light creeping through the door is split into thick beams, twisting and turning this way and that.

Another sob escapes my throat. Another wave of tears falls through my lashes. Another jolt of pain runs through my wounds.

The door creaks open, and the beams of light are shattered. Gale steps in, pushing the door tightly shut behind him. His eyes are just as crimson as mine. He wordlessly walks over and sits next to me. It's silent for awhile, just the occasion of my sniffling to disrupt the peace.

Then the clock strikes. And it's the time. The exact time that our fathers died.

My throat erupts in uncontrollable bawling, waves and waves of salty tears flowing endlessly down my raw cheeks. Gale pulls me to his chest, weeping too. I stain his shirt with sorrow, and my hair is sopping wet.

But it doesn't matter. Because I need him. I need someone who knows why I cry, why every year, this very hour haunts me to no end. And Gale is the only one who can ever, ever relate to that.

* * *

"Katniss. Katniss, wake up." At first it's Dad. He's still talking to me. He's saying how proud he is, how he wishes he could be there. But he isn't. And he never will be.

"Katniss, c'mon, wake up." Now it's Peeta. His face is marred, ruined with scars that only the Capitol could produce. His arms are scraped and scabbed, results of the inevitable torture the Capitol put him through to find out where I am. He didn't tell them. He never will.

"Catnip." No, now I know the voice. No one else would dare to call me by that name. Gale. He's my friend, my partner. And I love him. I need him. And I have no idea where I would be without him.

The swollen slits of my eyes peel open, gazing directly in to his identical ones. The same blue-black shadow lies beneath his lids, shading the morbid memories of last night. The same crimson skin rims the outside of those deep, beautiful gray eyes. The same dry tracks of water make stripes down his face.

I reach up and wrap my arms around his neck. His hands find their way around my back, and we just sit there.

They're gone. It's over. No matter how many years we do this, we can't get over it. But today's different. We don't have days of seclusion in the forest to cry in each other's arms. We don't have a choice. We have to pull ourselves together and win this. Lead the rebellion. If nothing else, for them.


End file.
